“We were just in shock. What is going on? None of us have been doing that. We’re absolutely flummoxed.

“We were asked, ‘have you had any Arabic on your phone? Have you been reading the Koran?’ We don’t even speak Arabic, we don’t know Arabic, we’re not even Arabs.”

The passengers who complained had incorrectly claimed that the women had a reference to the phrase ‘praise be to God’ on one of their phones.

Maryam had in fact been using her phone on the plane to send WhatsApp messages to her father, a pharmacist born in Uganda, about the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Officers also asked to see Maryam’s Twitter posts.

She said: “There was no evidence here. We were being treated like criminals

“The couple had lied and got away with it. It was offensive and hurtful.

“They tarnished our names in front of everyone on the flight, it was really humiliating.”

Eventually the three were allowed back on the flight – making a ‘humiliating’ walk past other passengers who saw them being quizzed.

But first an officer warned Sakina they would do further background checks on the family and if they found anything ‘[they] will be waiting’ when they landed.

Maryam said: “This was bizarre because, if we’re not a threat and we’re allowed on the plane, we’ve all agreed this has been a lie, then what’s the need?

“They said ‘if we find anything, we’ll be waiting for you when your plane lands’. What kind of threat was that to make?”

Sakina, who works at the University College London, said: “We would only have been allowed back on the plane if there wasn’t a shred of doubt on their part, so someone must be the liar here.

“In which case, why were those passengers not removed for wasting police time, lying, making false allegations and racial profiling?”

Essex Police said of the incident on 18th August: “Essex police were contacted with reports of concern regarding the behaviour of three people who were looking at their mobile phones.

“Officers at the airport spoke to them and examined their phones with their consent. They were quickly able to establish that no offences had been committed and the women boarded their flight.

“We are satisfied the call was of good intent.”

The airline said: “EasyJet can confirm that, following concerns raised by a passenger during the boarding, a member of ground staff requested the assistance of the police, who took the decision to talk to three passengers at the bottom of the aircraft steps, before departure.

“The police then confirmed to the captain that the passengers were cleared to complete their journey and they reboarded the aircraft and the flight departed to Naples.

“The safety and security of its passengers and crew is our highest priority, which means that if a security concern is raised, we will always investigate it as a precautionary measure.

“We would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused to the passengers.”

“The government must immediately explain under what powers they acted, and how it is necessary and proportionate, on the basis of a spurious claim by a fellow passenger, to demand that three young British Muslims disembark an aircraft and be subject to questioning by an MI5 officer and told that the officer may be waiting for them on their return.”

Earlier this year, a British man called Laolo Opebiyi was removed from an easyJet plane by armed police at Luton airport after a fellow passenger read a message on his phone about prayer and reported him as a security threat.